Please read and review. I did as much research as I could for this chapter and I hope I didn't get the facts too wrong.

Zade laid sprawled out on the top of his Jedi Starfighter. As he laid there he patted his droid, P3-TP on the domed skull with his right hand. With his left hand, he held a small, long distance comlink. With the help of P3-TP and his starfighter's long distance transmission dish, Zade was able to use his small comlink to communicate from the hanger in Fifth District, to the Jedi Temple in Coruscant. Zade was talking with the Klatooinian Jedi Master, Sarval-Styr. Zade listened as Sarval-Styr was talking to him. Through the comlink his voice sounded distorted and electronic, "...and you already sent your findings to the council?"

Zade sighed as he spoke into the comlink, "Unfortunately, yes. I was ordered to do so by the council. I'm sending the same findings to you as well. It appears to be some sort of grand Sith battle station. I trust you with this information more than the pestiferous council."

"The council has gone too far now. They needlessly put your life in danger and they did so intentionally. It's no different than murder." Sarval sounded upset.

Zade was also upset, "Their tactics are callow, childish. They are intoxicated by their power and when they can't get their way... they handle it with childish measures. I feel...," Zade said with great hesitation, "I feel as though... something must be done. They are just not a danger to the Jedi but also a danger to innocent lives."

"I agree." Sarval paused for a little while before continuing, "What would you think Master Ra... oh, sorry, Zade. Zade, what would you think if Master Quint and myself gathered a few supporters. We'll all get together when you return and discuss how, well... how to go about things. Of course, we will have to do this without the knowledge of the council."

Zade sat up, atop his starfighter, "Behind their backs?"

Master Sarval-Styr responded, "We have no choice. They are destroying the Jedi. Imagine what they would do if they knew of what we are planning. They'd get us all killed."

"I understand this, " Zade told him, "But all of this, this doesn't seem like Jedi traditions."

"And the way things stand now are?" Sarval countered, "We must face the facts. As things stand right now, the way of the Jedi... it just can't exist right now. Jedi are guardians but sometimes they must also be warriors. That time is now."

Zade thought back to his favorite, though less known, form of the Jedi code and repeated it to Master Sarval-Styr;

"Jedi are the guardians of peace in the galaxy.

Jedi use their powers to defend and to protect.

Jedi respect all life, in any form.

Jedi serve others rather then ruling over them, for the good of the galaxy.

Jedi seek to improve themselves through knowledge and training."

Both Jedi Masters sat in silence after Zade finished reciting the code. Finally Zade spoke into his comlink, "We are guardians no more, we are a military. Our powers are used as weapons rather than shields. Life is wasted without honor or meaning. We the Jedi Knights, Masters, and apprentices are ruled over by the majority of the council who serve selfish principles. As for improvement through knowledge? There is only power over the weak. This is the way the Jedi are right now. Not much unlike the Sith. I understand it now. I understand that... to restore our ideals and traditions... we must fight for them."

"It would seem that chaos is the only solution now." Sarval said with a somber tone.

"It is a mutiny... I'm afraid." Zade took a deep breath and calmed himself through the force before giving Sarval the order, "Gather supporters... try not to get caught. I'll return as soon as possible... may the force be with you."

"As you." Sarval responded before ending their long range conversation.

Zade switched his comlink off and clipped it to his belt. He looked over to his left and forced a smile to his droid, "Well, TP, how dose it feel to be part of what will go down as one of the darkest moments in Jedi history?"

The droid just spun it's head around and beeped. Zade could understand what the droid meant by it's movements and tone of beeps. They shared the same thought. This was going to be a nightmare... to say it in more civilized words...

--

I stood in the center of the cave like room inside Hyarsythe's second floor. It was my third day at Hyrsythe and so far, surprisingly, I wasn't doing that bad. I had a somewhat easy time avoiding the dark side techniques that Bast taught. Mainly because I knew the light side version of each technique so Bast didn't even think of teaching me the dark version of those attacks. Ollose's class however was probably the best part of Hyarsythe, except for maybe their food.

Ollose was teaching me the basics of every form and it was going very well. I seemed to be a quick learner and this was something I could use even after I left Hyarsythe, unlike the dark side skills. There were a few optional classes that I didn't take part in, like pilot training. I was already a good pilot but Vayne was taking the class and doing pretty well at it.

As for my mission to find out about the Sith, I was making a small amount of progress. I found out that on the sixth floor there was a control room with, what I assumed, all kinds of Sith secrets kept hidden inside of it. Not surprisingly, the student's didn't have access to the sixth floor. Only the Sith Lords, Sith commanding officers, and a few advanced students could gain entry into that floor. That gave me two options to get into that room... become an advanced student or hack into it from an outside source. Both options had very big draw backs. The first option would mean that I'd probably have to fall to the dark side to become an advanced student. I didn't want that. The other option was even more troublesome. I wasn't even sure if there was an outside source to hack into... and if there was I'd probably get caught doing it. So I'd either have to forget about the sixth floor and find something else to look for, or find another way into that floor.

Right now I couldn't worry about that. I stood in the cave like gymnasium, talking to Vayne, as we waited for Bast to arrive and begin class. So far our alliance had been working well. Shirtless and his gang had gotten in my way a few times but Vayne backed me up. vayne was either a good guy caught up in a bad situation or he was a good manipulator. Vayne had a big smile on his face as we talked, "Three days until we get to witness our first arena day."

"Arena Day", was just one of the names the students gave the days when there was no class and everyone gathered at the arena. We had one of those in three days. I pounded my right palm into my left palm, "Yeah. I'm sure the two of us will be challenged by the Lord's to participate."

Vayne grinned as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Maybe, even against each other. We are tops in this class after all."

I shook my head, "Nah. They usually go for even match-ups and with a lightsaber you are no match for me, junior."

Vayne's smile vanished and was replaced with a lighthearted scowl, "Yeah, maybe. But if we met in the skies I'll shoot you down faster than you could ignite a lightsaber."

I never told him I was a good pilot but I'm sure with his potential he could defiantly be a better pilot then me someday. Not now though. I pointed my index finger at my chest, "Me? You think you're a better pilot than me? Maybe. Maybe, we'll find out one day but for now there is no Arena Day for pilots."

Vayne must have noticed my necklace when I pointed to myself, "What's with the jewelry?"

I didn't respond. I just took my necklace that I got in Soundy-Dail and tucked it back into my black body glove. A few seconds later a door slid open and Bast walked into the room. Vayne and I joined the other sudents into the same old line. Bast stood infront of us with a cruel glint in his eyes. He chuckled to himself as crossed his arms over his chest, "Caaan anyone tell meee the Sith code?"

Nobody answered. I had no idea what the Sith code was. I heard from other Jedi that it was a direct contract to one of earlier forms of the Jedi code. After waiting in silence Bast continued, "The Sith cooode is more than jussst wordsss, more thaaan a motto. I'v yooou understand the meaning o'v thisss code, it will be a guiding beacon to the truuue power of the v'orce, thhhe dark side of the v'orce." He then went on to recite the Sith code...

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

Through passion, I gain strength.

Through strength, I gain power.

Through power, I gain victory.

Through victory, my chains are broken.

The Force shall free me.

It truly was a direct contrast to the older, refined version of the Jedi code;

There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force.

There is no emotion, there is peace. Jedi are not immune to emotion but they do they do believe that they should be set aside. Unless a Jedi can confront his thoughts and feelings and understand them, he will never achieve peace. Emotions, are not to be overcome or denied, but rather understood and dealt with.

Peace is a lie, there is only passion. The Sith believe that passion, that emotion is truth. Passions are what kept all creatures alive. It was like what Phyress told me before. Passion and emotion was the basic status of the universe and to deny it, was denying basic instinct and true power. They believed the Jedi as denying their natures and afraid of the truth around them.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. A Jedi must always use circumspection and try to understand the universe that is surrounding them. Jedi must keep an open mind and have the ability to accept what other beings would tend to see as unacceptable.

Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Understanding how to use one's emotions was the main philosophy that the Sith were based around. The Sith knew how to harness their passion and emotion into frightening power. To the Sith, without passion one couldn't truly understand the ways of the true force, the dark side. Force is power.

There is no passion, there is serenity. A Jedi must draw his weapon only in defense. While emotions and intuition must be understood and utilized in a Jedi's daily life, he must never act rashly. Passionate use of power leads to the dark side. A Jedi must always act with a calm hand and an even temper.

Through power, I gain victory. The Sith did not believe that victory by any means was desirable, but believed that unless victory proved your superiority, it was an illusion and temporary. Sith dogma taught that unless the victory was achieved by demonstrating that one's power was superior it was not true victory. The stronger a Sith became in the Force, the more power they could achieve, but they always had to fight for that power.

There is no chaos, there is harmony. Jedi do not deny the fact that tragic and terrible things happen, they merely point out that tragedy is simply another part of life. While some see sorrow and tragedy in the workings of the universe, through the Force, a Jedi is able to interpret and understand even the most painful of life's events. Death is all a part of life. Minor inconveniences such as failure, disappointment, and disagreement are also inevitable and should be understood and accepted.

Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me. The chains represented a being's restrictions, not just a Sith but any being in the universe. The restrictions could be those placed upon a being by someone else, or restrictions that one placed upon oneself. The ultimate goal of any Sith was to free himself from such restrictions and achieve supremacy among all else.

There is no death, there is the Force. A Jedi must always be ready for death. As a warrior not only in combat but also in day-to-day life, it is easy to fail and fall. The sense of loss is often even greater for one who feels it with the Force. Death, however, is not a tragedy and is merely a part of the life cycle. Without death, life could not exist. The Force in us, still lives on after we die. Jedi do not fear death nor do they mourn it overmuch; a Jedi, after all, must celebrate death if he is to also celebrate life.

I disagreed with many parts of both codes. I believe that one should embrace emotions, but not manipulate them. One should mourn death of loved ones, but not to dwell on it. I am still young though and I'm not sure if what I believe in was the truth or not. For the most part though, I agreed with the Jedi code. Though, I've noticed that even the strongest Jedi Master and darkest Lord of the Sith, often both stray from their own codes every now and then.

It wasn't until I compared the two codes that I realized I was constantly comparing the Sith to the Jedi as if I was still a padawan. I wasn't. I wasn't a Jedi anymore... I was never a Jedi, only an apprentice. I looked at the ways of the Jedi as the truth but that wasn't who I was anymore... maybe that was never who I was. As much as I hated to admit it, I was more Sith than Jedi. I wasn't in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, I was in Hyarsythe on Apsus. I wasn't surrounded by trustworthy Jedi, I was surrounded by the nefarious Sith. A brief and frightening thought popped into my mind. What if I just joined the Sith? What if I quit trying to find a way destroy them and just joined them? No, I thought of the past. I thought of Darth Vultous killing my Master, a man like my father. The Sith slaying innocent life, that seeker unit that killed Wire's parents and tried to kidnap her brother, Riveth. I could never become that... I wouldn't. The fact that it crossed my mind made me more nervous than I'd been in six years, standing before the corrupt Jedi council. I knew going into this that I could fall to the dark side and I was willing to risk it, or at least at that time I was willing to.

Bast turned his back to us, "That isss all v'or today. Nothinggg morrre. You ssshould reflect onnn the code. V'ind (Find) it'sss meannning. Ussse it to v'ind (find) your paaath."

He exited out of the room via a door built into the rocky wall and left us standing in that line. I was still partly lost in my own thoughts when Shirtless broke my concentration. A few students left to go to their living quarters but Shirtless and the others in his gang remained. Shirtless and his gang had large, cocky grins on their faces as they grouped together and stared at Vayne and I. Vayne nudged me in the side, "Can you believe these guys?"

I was almost in a trance like state when he asked me that. I just slowly shook my head in silence and stared walking toward the lift that would take me to my quarters. Shirtless didn't like me turning my back to him as I walked away and decided to make trouble. He ran in front of me and blocked my path. Vayne was going to help me out but then his gang members decided to get in his face. Shirtless pointed the palm of his hand toward me, "I'm stronger now. I've been practicing!"

The thoughts, the fear of me falling to the dark side still remained in my mind. The Sithrimi had begun altering that fear into a mild madness. I could feel it. I rubbed the palm of my hand against my forehead, trying to send calming thoughts to my mind but I couldn't concentrate! I couldn't think calmly! My mind felt claustrophobic inside my own head. My skull felt like a cage trapping my conscious. My fear had altered into anger. What was I angry about? Myself? Shirtless? Argh! I couldn't contain it. All I could hear was the feint taunts from Shirtless. Everything else was just clutter.

Then Shirltess made the mistake of trying to force push me with his open palm. I could feel the wave of the push coming toward me. I went to tap into the force to defend myself but as I did I could feel this cluttered anger inside me burst out all at once. I swiped my hand out in front of me. As I did I released the powers of the force in such immense power that it ripped through his force push like a lightsaber through paper. This release of my anger was freeing, therapeutic. A mad smile ran across my face, "Is that all, junior?"

He just stood thier in a defiant, yet startled stance. I reached my right hand out and tapped into a touch of darkness. I used these fingers, these invisible fingers of the force and I wrapped them around his neck. I had never done anything like this before but it felt second nature to me. I was choking him just like Bast did a few days earlier. I didn't want to let go though. He was a nuisance. I grit my teeth together and spoke in a soft whisper that only I could hear, "I will never become like you... I won't become you!"

When I saw his face turn purple and his body start to go limp... I lost it. I took a deep breath and regained my normal self. I let go of my grip on him and let his body drop to the ground. I stood there as he gasped for breath and held onto his throat. I couldn't believe what I'd done. I fell victim to the Sithrimi and to myself. I felt a slight tingling behind me. I turned around and saw Bast's silhouette standing in that distant doorway, watching the whole thing. I'm sure he was pleased by my sudden progress in the dark side and my altered persona. My stomach felt empty, sick. I wasn't going to become what he wanted...

--

I sat in my room, at the edge of my bed. I had another hour before my next class began and I needed to relax myself. I sat there cross legged with my eyes closed. My hands were gripping onto the Lanoul wolf pendant on my necklace. I was doing a calming meditation. I reached out and grabbed onto the feeling that I had back on Soundy-Dail when my friends bought me this necklace. I tried amplifying that feeling. Anything to calm myself and steady my emotions.

I couldn't believe how I acted earlier. I used a dark side attack against someone. Worse yet, it was a dark side attack that I was never taught. It was something that some advanced students didn't even know how to preform. It was... it was like I knew it all along. Like a humanoid breathing or a dog wagging it's tail, it just happened without my conscious knowing about it. At least I was aware of it now. This was all knew to me. This was nothing I'd ever experienced before in my life. Now I knew what to be aware of. I could understand the warnings. I knew what to avoid. Hopefully.

The thought of me betraying the Jedi was one of said warnings. Now that I was back to my normal self, I could reason with myself. I wasn't a Jedi, never was, never will be. That didn't mean I couldn't side with them. Granted, I didn't agree with many of there traditions, such as abandoning family. However, I still believe the Jedi are the true guardians of the force and the galaxy but the Sith are a corrupt virus that plagues everything. Nothing would change my thinking about them. After all... even if the worst happened, if I did fall to the dark side. Just because I may fall into the dark it didn't mean I would have to be a Sith to do so. The Sith are just... just a cult that used the dark side as a tool. At least that is what I was telling myself.

If they were so powerful they would have taken over the galaxy by now. Every time the Sith began an uprising, eventually they are brought down. I played a major part in the last time that it happened and hopefully I'd do it again. Sometimes the Sith even vanish from the galaxy when they are defeated only to show up years later. The Sith struggle to stay alive. The Jedi are always. If the Sith were so much more powerful than the Jedi, that wouldn't be the case.

I wasn't sure how much of this was the truth or how much of it was just me trying to put a spin on things to reason with myself. I didn't care, I was making some good points. In doing so, I was starting to feel better. That tension and remaining anger just lifted away and I felt like regular old Laan again. A smile crept across my face as I stood up from my bed and placed the necklace back around my neck where it belongs. I looked over to my room's chrono (note: chrono, basically just another name for a clock) and noticed what time it was. There was only four minuets until my lightsaber training began. I must have been meditating longer than I realized. So I ran out my room and toward the lift that would take me to the fifth floor. Today Ollose was going to teach me about the second form.

--

Inside of Phyress Lokindr's dark loft. Phyress sat in her throne surrounded by the errie candlelight. She had different raiment on. She had thin, black platting covering her body and a black hood covering her head. She sat there as she watched the lift's doors open and her two Sith Lords, Lord Vedalt'e and Lord Zephyrus step into the room. The two walked from the lift and into the candlelight, before Lokindr. Both gave her a slight bow of the head out of respect for her position. In truth the three hated each other and were in constant competition with one another for that position and Phyress was on top. She was granted the position as headmaster of Hyarsythe by Darth Vultous. Darth Vultous usually only promoted woman into higher Sith ranks, including Phyress. Male Sith Lords like Bast and Ollose took exception to this. They hated it even more now that even six years after Vultous had fallen, Phyress remains in power over Hyarsythe.

Phyress clasped her hands together and rested her chin on them, "Well, hello my friends. Three days until the, Arena Day, as the students like to call it. Are there any students of interest?"

Ollose nodded his head and spoke with a mildly shrill tone of voice, "A few. For me, there are two in particular. Both are neophytes, surprisingly. I think I may eventually take one as a new apprentice."

Phyress laughed, "Oh? You found a new one? Hopefully this one doesn't meet the same fate as your last one, Vedalt'e... and Zephyrus. We wouldn't them to fall before my Kali and Moyi like your past failures."

Bast grumbled, "Yesss, yesss. Your two pets arrre good, Looord Lokindr but they can be beatennn. I believe I have alsooo found a v'ew (few) worthyyy, potential, apprenticesss."

An apprentice for these three wasn't the same as a Jedi apprentice. No, these apprentices were used as tools, weapons in their feud. If you had a stronger apprentice then it meant you were a stronger teacher. The general feeling was that when the right apprentice was found, they and their master would destroy the other two and take over Hyarsythe... or maybe even more. Phyresss decided to take two apprentices, the twins Kali and Moyi. Both twins had slain Ollose and Bast's apprentices, only two arena days ago. Now they were looking for new ones.

"Who are these students you speak of?" Phyress asked.

"Why?! Do you plan on getting to them before arena day?" Ollose shouted in response to her question.

She chuckled, "Maybe. Dont' forget, boys, I am in charge here and you will obey me!"

Both Bast and Ollose exchanged angered glances before apologizing. Ollose bowed his head to her, "Forgive me. I'm going to have neophyte Mun Orlen and neophyte Nemea duel. Both are skilled with a stun stick and could well surpass even I with a lightsaber. I shall take the winner as my apprentice."

Bast seemed taken back a bit, "Nemea? Ceddesss Nemea?"

Ollose snickered, "Why, was he going to be your apprentice?"

Bast just grumbled to himself as Phyress stood up from her throne, "Oh? The former Jedi padawan is skilled in both arts? Interesting."

Ollose ignored Phyress and continued taunting Bast, "Oh, don't worry Bast. You can have Nemea if he looses the duel. Besides, I'm not even sure that I want to take an apprentice just yet."

Bast clenched his fists, "Bah! Nemeaaa is just a neov'yte (neophyte). I'v (If) you want a neov'yte for youuur apprentice that isss your owwwn foolish choice, Vedalt'e."

Ollose just continued laughing under his breath. Phyress clapped her hands together to get their attention, "Now, now. We'll find everything out three days from now. You two can argue about whoever you want... I on the other hand... have my own plans for this arena day."